she's baaaaack

Yep, so I finally decided to update this blog again. I'm pretty sure I'm going to let my other blog rest in peace though...well, maybe.

So, what has been going on in my yarny life? The baby blanket from hell, that's what. Minus the whole how-does-the-woman-struggling-with-infertility-manage-knitting-baby-blankets angle (that might be a whole post to itself) there is the whole knitting the stupid thing in and of itself. I'm not a fast knitter as I only took up knitting about a year ago, and everything I know is self-taught. But I was pretty confident I could do this. And the pattern is completely super easy. I was even able to successfully rip out stitches when I did mess up (before I have just been restarting the project or ignoring the mess-up). It's just going so sloooow!!! I've tried listening to music and podcast sermons and watching my current fave TV show (Sherlock...just in case you are wondering) and nothing seems to help the time go by. So, what have I done to cope?

Started a new project.

Kind of counter intuitive, I know, but I was getting desperately bored with the baby blanket. So I've started a cute little turtle pillow pet which is kind of like amigurumi on a grander scale. I want to make one for each of my nephews (I have three) and I've already started thinking about how I can mod the pattern to make a unicorn for my youngest niece. So hopefully the baby blanket won't be completely forgotten because it was actually a commission. That is if the person decides to pay me. This time, no money, no product.

abort mission...

Okay, I'm putting my knit baby blanket aside for two reasons:

1) Because I couldn't get the gauge right. I have only been knitting for four months, so I'm still not the best at it. I tried doing separate squares but it was hard to sew them together. I'm also not good at sewing knit/crocheted fabric together, so it looked rather hideous. I then got the bright idea of knitting in strips: sort of like knitting a scarf, changing the colors as needed to form a row of blocks. For some reason the green section was shorter than the white section. Ugh.

2) I found out that the baby shower for the girl I'm making the blanket for is in two weeks. The group is throwing an early shower for her and I want to have the blanket done in time to present it to her. I can crochet faster, so I've change my plan over to a crocheted baby blanket. Which is something I've done a dozen times. Pretty fool-proof. Of course, I'm itching to try a new pattern, but I just don't have the time to experiment or to hunt down the right yarn. The local craft shops only have the bare basics type of yarn (it took them six months to start carrying Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation brand). I'm kind of quirky about wanting the yarn that the pattern recommends. Plus I'm just not good at substituting yarn.

So I'm back to the tried and true method. I have to say, it's getting dull, but on a strict time line, it's do-able. I'm still going to be pushed, but I can crochet up a baby blanket by Oct. 14.

I think....

knitting a baby blanket

I'm getting ready to embark on my first large-scale knitting project. I've knit a little pouch and a scarf, both fairly basic, easy-to-do sort of things. Now I'm going to try a baby blanket. I'm modifying the pattern from one I found at Lion Brand's website. I'll keep the basic blocks (about 3 x 3 in squares), but I'm changing the color scheme. The girl that I'm making the blanket for doesn't know if it's going to be a boy or a girl yet, so I'm doing the typical white/green/yellow color scheme. Ideally, it will end up like this:

G Y W G Y W G Y W

W G Y W G Y W G Y

Y W G Y W G Y W G

G Y W G Y W G Y W

W G Y W G Y W G Y

Y W G Y W G Y W G

G Y W G Y W G Y W

W G Y W G Y W G Y

Y W G Y W G Y W G

The real kicker will be the fact that I'm going to have sew all the little blocks together. I hate having to sew pieces together. Almost as much as I hate weaving in the ends. Those two steps seem to give me the most trouble.

But there's nothing like facing your fears and challenging yourself. And sewing all these little squares are going to be a challenge.